The Griever Hole Was a WHAT!
by Chucklez-Lives-On
Summary: Thomas and Teresa showed up and everything changed. But the Gladers' escape from the Maze through the Griever Hole was not what they expected it to be. It led them to a portal. So the Gladers now have to find their way around the world you and I live in today, and that won't come without some... complications. Warning: fair bit of OOCness
1. Teresa is a Terrible Driver

**Well, this is my first Maze Runner fanfiction... hopefully this turns out okay. Or as okay as weirdness can get... **

**The Basics: Everything in the Glade was normal until Thomas and Teresa showed up. Of course, after that, everything went crazy and then they had to escape the Glade. However, the Griever Hole did not lead them to WICKED, it lead them to the real world (like the world we live in today). The Gladers found out that they had bank accounts for some reason, and they got themselves homes. Now they have to figure out how to live in the "real world". They've been here a week but they haven't really gotten that much stuff figured out... oh, and Chuck and Alby are still alive, too. Who knew?**

**Warning: There is a fair bit of OOCness. If that's not your cup of tea, then I would suggest leaving and never coming back. It just gets more bizarre from here.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"Teresa invited us to a... mall with her. Are we going?" Thomas asked Minho, who he was sharing an apartment with.<p>

Minho didn't give him a direct answer, and instead said, "I don't get it. A week ago we were in the Glade, working our butts off, and then you two show up and everything goes completely _crazy_. We then jump into the shucking _Griever Hole_ and end up in a _portal_ to the "real world". I'm still getting over the shock of the whole thing and Teresa wants to take us _shopping_?" he shook his head.

"I'm accepting her invitation. Teresa says we need to learn to be "real-world people"."

"Teresa says we need to learn to be real-world people," Minho said mockingly. "Honestly, what's the point of asking me if you're going to ignore my input?"

Thomas ignored him.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

About an hour later, Teresa pulled up in a bright red SUV and was impatiently honking on the horn for them to get outside.

Minho opened the window and yelled, "Slim it! We're coming!"

Thomas and Minho went outside and climbed into the car, Teresa forcing a much-too-willing Newt out of shotgun for Thomas to sit there. Gally was in the way back, and Alby was in the middle. Newt claimed one of the other middle seats, and since Minho didn't like the idea of being squished, he climbed in the back with Gally.

"Why is Gally here?" he complained.

"Because, just like you, Newt, Alby, Thomas, and I, we need to get clothes. We can't go around wearing the same articles of clothing for the rest of our lives, as I'm sure you've seen that next to nobody, besides the occasional hobo, does that." Teresa responded. "You can sit in the middle if you have a problem with sitting next to him."

"But that's too crowded..." Minho whined.

"I'm just as happy as you about this arrangement, I promise you." Gally said. "Teresa forced me to do this. She's really good at convincing. Unfortunately."

"How does this girl do this? Honestly..." Minho shook his head.

"I'm good at knowing what I want and getting what I want." Teresa said proudly. "I'll do whatever it takes."

"Have fun in shotgun, Tommy," Newt looked genuinely relieved to be out of the front seat. "If you haven't bloody wet yourself by the time we get there, I congratulate you."

"Why?" Thomas hadn't been in a car yet- he'd been walking everywhere. He had a vague memory of being in a car, but there were no emotions he could associate with it. "Is riding in a car scary?" he buckled his seatbelt.

"It shouldn't be, but with Tere-" Newt began, but Teresa interrupted him.

"Enjoy the ride!" she said cheerfully, slamming on the gas pedal. The car jerked forward quickly and Thomas cringed.

Teresa got to the end of the parking lot, screeched to a halt by stomping on the brake pedal, and put on a turn signal. Thomas cringed again.

"Ya, see, Tommy?" Newt had his eyes shut tightly, clinging to the seatbelt.

"Honestly, Teresa's the most shucking awful driver there is," Gally said, as Teresa made a sharp left turn. "I haven't heard any of the cars make the screeching noises like she's causing to come from this one!"

"Pay closer attention, then!" Teresa said cheerfully again, the car quickly gaining speed. "My driver's ed class had plenty of screeching cars. Shuck! Red light!" she slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding crashing into the car in front of them.

Thomas shrieked in fright and looked around desperately for something to hold on to.

"Stop being such a baby!" Teresa laughed, pushing Thomas playfully.

"Teresa," Thomas shut his eyes tightly as the light changed from red to green and Teresa stomped on the gas pedal again. "I know you've been to driver's ed, but are you a fully licensed driver yet?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get your license from?"

"A place."

"Was this a place that was authorized to be giving out licenses?"

Teresa looked at him and shrugged. "Probably not."

"KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE SHUCKING ROAD, GIRL!" Alby screamed.

Teresa looked back at the road, eyes widening, spun the wheel, and they narrowly avoided a very much unwanted off-road adventure.

"WHY DID YOU GET YOUR LICENSE THEN?!" Thomas shouted.

"I wanted to be able to drive as quickly as possible. All the other places I looked into took six months to a year. This course only took five days, isn't that great?"

"THERE WAS PROBABLY A REASON FOR THAT!" Minho screamed as Teresa braked for another red light.

"Eh, probably." Teresa shrugged. "Oh well!"

Thomas was lurched forward when Teresa braked. His seatbelt locked and he stopped moving forward. "Honestly, this thing is a lifesaver." he breathed.

"I'm tellin' ya." Newt was still in the position he had been in a couple minutes ago. Thomas joined him in clinging onto the seatbelt, but kept his eyes open.

The light changed to green, and Teresa drove down a road that led to a highway. She started to speed up.

"Oh, _no shucking way_!" Minho yelled. "I'm not getting on a highway with this lunatic!"

"Too late, shank!" Teresa was still much too cheerful, based on the emotions of her passengers. "We have to go on the highway to get to the mall."

"Then I'll wear the same clothes for the rest of my life. Honestly, anything's better than this."

"You've been wearing the same clothes for a week. That's gross. You need new stuff." Teresa looked back at him. The car started gaining speed much quicker now.

"EYES ON THE ROAD!" Alby screamed.

Teresa turned her head back to view the highway, and she quickly switched lanes to avoid crashing into the car in front of them. The car behind them in their new lane slammed the brakes and the screeching sound was heard. Then came an angry honk.

"Drivers. So rude." Teresa shook her head. "And Gally, there's your screeching sound."

"Yeah, the car screeched because they had to brake for your _impromptu lane switch_!" Gally yelled at her. "And they were honking at you because car horns are supposed to be safety devices! They were _warning_ you!"

"Apparently, Gallys are rude too." Teresa turned up the car radio.

Conveniently (or inconveniently, depending on how you looked at it), "Staying Alive" by the Bee-Gees was playing.

"WE'RE TRYING!" Alby sobbed to the radio. "WE REALLY ARE!"

"Slim it, Alby." Teresa rolled her eyes. "You realize the radio can't hear you, right?"

"Uh-huh!" he whimpered.

"You're driving the man insane! Just from your bloody _driving skills_!" Newt said angrily and anxiously to Teresa. "How much longer until we get to the mall?"

"Ten minutes or so." Teresa shrugged. She pushed on the brake pedal again. "Traffic!"

So, the next five minutes of traffic consisted of Teresa constantly inching forward, switching from the gas to the brake every five seconds, screeching each time she braked. Thomas was getting sick of the noise and quite frankly, he was getting carsick. "Teresa, how much longer?"

"You guys are so impatient." Teresa huffed.

"Says the girl who pulled up to our apartment building and immediately started honking the horn without calling us or coming in to get us or anything." Minho said, as Teresa braked again.

"I'm never getting into a car with you again." Gally promised Teresa.

"You can't walk on the highway. So yeah, you are."

"Um, no, I'm not. I'll get a cab or a bus. Or I'll hitchhike. Or I'll steal a motorcycle or a car and try to drive myself home. I may not have a license and I may not have even gone to any driver's ed classes, but I'd try. Or I'll just live at the mall, even. Honestly, anything would be better than this." Gally complained.

"Rude." Teresa huffed.

A couple minutes later, they got off the highway and pulled into the mall's parking lot.

"Whew, there's a spot!" Teresa said. "Malls are usually wicked busy."

Thomas, Minho, Gally, and Alby closed their eyes and clung onto their seatbelts. Newt continued doing what he was doing.

"Whoops. Oops! Whoops..." Teresa finally shut off the car. "Well, that was not my most successful parking experience, but we're here!"

There were scratches and dents on the cars on both sides, but none of the boys bothered to tell Teresa she was probably going to be known to have scratched the cars and would be blamed for it and would probably have to pay for the car's repairs. They all ran out of the car, Newt and Thomas began kissing the ground, Minho and Gally began running to the mall's entrance, and Alby began sobbing with relief and just sprinted into the mall.

"Where is he going?" Teresa rolled her eyes. "And why are the two of you kissing the ground? People's feet have been there, cars drive over it... just... ugh."

"I don't care if it's gross-" Thomas kissed the ground again. "I'm just glad to be alive!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Newt said.

Teresa pulled the boys off the ground. "Let's go shopping, you shanks. And go find Alby- wherever he went."

"I'm never getting into a car with you again. I agree with Gally." Thomas said, as they walked over to the mall.

"You'll get into the car with me again, I know you will."

"That's bloody doubtful." Newt said.

"I know you will..." Teresa said in a sing-song voice.

"Doubtful!"

"I know you will...!"

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><p><strong>Hopefully that turned out okay... feedback is appreciated! :)<strong>


	2. Piggybacking for Teamwork

**Well, thankfully, the first chapter is already showing positive signs, so here I am, posting the next chapter. I guess we'll see how this goes...**

**Reply to Reviews:**

**Guest: I'm very aware Alby was killed by Grievers- I cried a little after reading that part of the book (I know, I'm weird... whaddya gonna do... XD). In this, the battle with the Grievers before the Gladers went a little differently, besides the Griever Hole being a portal. This is supposed to be an alternate ending, with a humorous twist, I suppose you could say. I wanted Alby to be here. And if you think this is crazy, well, it only gets weirder from here...**

**AsgardianGrizzly: Glad you liked it! ;)**

**StarRunner1: Yep! They're all meant to be a little OOC, so that's okay :)**

**Guest: Thank you! Glad you found it so!**

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><p>"Welcome to the mall, boys." Teresa said, as the five of them (Alby still missing in action) stepped foot in the incredibly large building.<p>

"It's huge!" Thomas gasped, observing the dozens of shops and all the people hurrying around.

"Have you no memory of a mall?" Teresa asked.

"I have a vague memory, I guess. Not in a mall as big as this, though."

"True, this is a pretty big mall. Now, let's go find our dear friend Alby, shall we?" Teresa went up to a mall directory. "Security office is down there, to the right." she grabbed Newt's and Thomas's wrists with her hands and dragged them down the corridor. Gally and Minho followed. They stopped at a door labeled "Mall Security". Teresa pushed the door open and they filed inside.

It was a considerably small room, six plastic chairs lined up across from a desk, two doors leading off to two different rooms. It was dimly lit and had dark blue walls.

"How can I help you?" asked the woman behind the desk.

"Yes, hi." Teresa went over to the desk. "We would like to report a missing boy."

Newt facepalmed. "Teresa, he's not a _boy_."

The woman appeared not hear him. "Okay. Can you tell me his name, age, and a specific description?"

"Okay, so, his name is Alby, he's about eighteen, and he's about 5 foot nine-ish maybe, he's African-American and he's got short brown hair and a muscular build."

"Well, he doesn't seem like a boy, now does he? Perhaps a young man? And in most cases, eighteen-year-olds aren't missing in a mall, they are often off by themselves. You seem too calm for it to be a kidnapping..." the woman looked at Teresa, almost seeming like she was expecting her to contradict her.

"Fine, he's a young man. But he's missing. He ran out of the car and into the mall and he went somewhere- where, I don't know." Teresa shrugged.

"Does he have a phone you can call him with?" the woman asked calmly.

"No. He hasn't had time to buy a phone."

The woman looked at Teresa, surprised. "Well, your friend must be a very busy man."

"It's been a busy week." Teresa agreed.

The woman looked at Teresa strangely. "Anyways, I suppose we can try paging him. "What's his name again?"

"Alby."

"What's his last name?"

"We're not exactly sure. And Alby isn't even his real name. Can you just try paging Alby? I mean, who names their kid "_Alby"_? He'll know it's him who's beeing called to when he hears it." Teresa said.

Newt facepalmed again. "Bloody hell, Teresa!"

"...Then what's his real name...?" the woman looked confused.

"I dunno. I suppose it could be Alby for all we know. Or it could be something common, just like John or Bob. Could be Juan or Frederick, who knows?!" Teresa laughed.

"Sorry, she's had a rough week." Newt placed his hands on Teresa's shoulders and moved her to the side. "His name _is_ Alby. Unfortunately, we do not know his last name- he's a fairly new friend and for some reason, we haven't gotten around to last names. He was supposed to be sticking with us, but he went off somewhere. Could you just try paging "Alby"? My friend was right on that count- not many people have the name of Alby."

The woman seemed to believe Newt. "Okay." she picked up the phone next to her and dialed a number, "Paging Alby. Your party of five is waiting for you in the security office- please report to the security office immediately."

Ten minutes passed, and Alby did not show up.

"He's a shucking idiot." Newt muttered to himself. To the lady, he said, "Thank you very much for your help- I suppose we'll just scope him out ourselves from here."

"Good luck." she smiled at him. "He'll turn up, I'm sure."

They left the security office, and Minho asked Newt, "How'd you do it? Teresa told her the story and the lady thought she was crazy, and then you come through saying pretty much the same thing and she believes you in no time."

"Well, one, going off about how Alby might be named "Bob" did not help Teresa's situation, and two, like, three girls this week have told me I have a nice accent. So, apparently, I'm "charming". People will listen to charming accents, I guess."

"I have never found you so useful." Minho said. "But I don't find your accent to be charming- just different."

"And I don't like your accent," Gally put in. "It's weird."

Newt rolled his eyes.

"I was just being truthful!" protested Teresa, as they walked towards the nearest store- a CVS- to check for Alby.

"There's such thing as being too truthful." Newt rolled his eyes again, peering down an aisle. "No Alby..."

They split up and regrouped by the cash register, Teresa holding a bag of Hershey bars. "No Alby." she said, getting in line to buy the Hershey bars.

"Nope." Minho shook his head.

Thomas shook his head, too.

"If I'd found Alby, you'd think he would be here with me." Gally said dryly.

"Me neither." Newt shrugged. "Hey Teresa, why are you buying Hershey bars?"

"Chocolate is good for the heart." she said simply, handing the cashier a five-dollar bill.

"That's bloody fabulous." Newt rolled his eyes. "But could we focus on Alby right now?"

"Sure, now." Teresa joined them with her bag. "Where should we check?"

"I say we split up and check everywhere. I don't know where Alby would end up- I've never been to a mall with him before." Newt sighed.

"Alone?" Thomas asked. He didn't like the thought of wandering the large mall alone- he'd probably get lost too.

"Fine. We go in pairs, and one of us makes a third person in a group or works alone. I'll work alone- I'm not afraid of a mall." Newt said.

"Yet you're afraid of my driving?" Teresa teased.

"I don't think there is a very high mall death rate. However, you're a different story." Newt said.

"Since I seem to be the most confident, I should go off by myself. I nominate myself." Teresa said proudly.

"Fine, you can work alone." Newt rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you want, I really don't care."

"Excellent." Teresa rubbed her hands together.

Thomas and Newt then looked at each other and shouted, "I want Minho!"

"I feel the love, guys." Minho put a hand over his heart.

"I've known him longer- you can work with Gally." Newt said quickly.

"But Gally hates me. Don't you, Gally?" Thomas looked over at Gally.

"Newt's not my best friend and neither is Minho." Gally said simply.

"But you hate me the most, right?"

"Yes."

"You guys get to bond." Newt said. "Let's meet back here in a half hour."

"Sounds good!" Teresa waved to them and skipped off to the right. Newt and Minho went left, so Thomas turned to where Gally had been standing. "Soo... up the escalator?"

Gally was not there.

"Gally!" shouted Thomas, looking around. Gally was already on the escalator. He chased after the former Builder, his thoughts on the whole situation consisted that he hated Gally, but he felt as though he would hate getting lost alone in the large building even more. "Seriously?"

"I don't like you." Gally shrugged.

"I don't like you, either, but shouldn't we stick together?"

"You're afraid of the mall, aren't you?" Gally grinned wickedly.

"I'm not afraid of the mall- I'm afraid of getting lost in it." Thomas said defensively.

"Fine, here's the deal- we stick together, but if anyone asks if we're friends, we deny everything. We also don't talk to each other." Gally stated the rules of working with him with a condescending tone.

"Why would anyone ask if we're friends?"

"You're breaking rule two."

"Honestl-"

"Shh!"

"Gall-"

"Shut up!"

"_GAL_-"

"I'm done. I'm not working with you." Gally walked off the escalator and started picking up the pace to get away from Thomas.

Thomas sprinted after him and jumped on the taller boy's back. "You're stuck with me."

"Get- off- me- you- shank!" Gally spun around in circles, trying to swat Thomas off his back.

"I'm sticking with you. I don't like you, but you're better than getting lost alone."

"I'm sorry, but I'd prefer to get lost alone than work with you."

"I feel the love."

"You just said you didn't like me!"

People were starting to give them weird looks as they passed.

Thomas was embarrassed, so he just said, "I'm just trying to get my worst enemy to work with me. Like you've never tried that before. Move along, guys."

"Shuck, Thomas! Get off!"

"Say we can work together."

"You're really afraid, aren't you."

"That car ride has changed me, Gally. I'm not the person I once was."

Gally rolled his eyes, and managed to slap Thomas's hand, so Thomas lost his grip on Gally's shoulder and crashed to the ground.

"Ooww..." Thomas groaned, sitting up. "Come on. Like you're not afraid of getting lost."

"I'm slightly unnerved by the size of the mall, I'll admit, but I'm not so freaked out I need you with me!" Gally said.

"Please, just... just let me... _tag along_, so to speak." Thomas said.

Gally rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine."

"YAY!" Thomas shouted, very much over enthusiastically. "Let's go look for Alby!" Thomas grabbed Gally's wrist and tugged him into the nearest store- a Bath and Body Works.

Thomas took the first step inside the store, took a deep breath and coughed. "_Wow_, the smells are overpowering."

"Yeah... I don't think Alby would be here. I don't think he could stand all the different scents." Gally said, wrinkling his nose.

"I guess we still have to look... I think Alby's gone kinda crazy- who knows what he's doing?" Thomas shrugged.

So the two wandered aimlessly through the displays of different perfumes, soaps, and hand sanitizers. They regrouped at the front of the store, both of them shaking their heads.

"Shuck, Thomas, you smell like you dumped every single scent in this room on you. What happened?" Gally shook his head.

Thomas looked at Gally, feeling the heat rise in his cheeks. "This nice worker person offered samples, and I felt like it would be rude to say "no"."

"Oh, don't tell Teresa," Gally snickered tauntingly. "Because I'll probably be doing it first."

Thomas looked at his feet. "She's not my girlfriend." he muttered. "And I didn't like the- person- girl, I just felt like rejecting it would be rude. She was very pleasant and I didn't want to hurt her feelings."

"Sure, Teresa isn't and I'm sure your new girlfriend was lovely." Gally rolled his eyes. "Anyways, let's keep going."

They went into the next store, a store called "Lids". It was a baseball hat shop, and it was considerably small, so Thomas and Gally just surveyed from the outside.

"No Alby." Thomas stated.

"No Alby." Gally agreed.

They went to the next store, a woman's clothing store called "Destination Maternity". This was larger, so they had to go in to look.

"Gally," Thomas whispered to him. "Do you really think Alby could be in a pregnant ladies' store?"

"I don't know- the shank went crazy." Gally peered behind a rack of shirts, in case Alby was hiding behind it, which, in this case, seemed entirely possible.

Some of the people in the store- mostly pregnant women, some men who were probably just husbands of the women in the store gave them strange looks. Thomas could see why. He and Gally were teenage boys, in slightly filthy clothing, and it was quite obvious that neither boy was pregnant.

"No Alby." Thomas sighed.

Gally rolled his eyes. "Let's keep looking."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Thomas and Gally must have scoured fifteen to twenty different shops, covering a large portion of the upstairs area. They went to meet up with Newt, Minho, and Teresa in front of CVS again.

"No luck?" Thomas asked the other three, who were already there.

"Nope." Minho shook his head.

"If Alby was found by me, don't you think he would be here with me?" Teresa sighed exasperatedly. "Honestly, I want to shop. And I'm hungry. We must have gotten most of the shops in the mall- where could he be?"

"Eat your chocolate." Gally said blatantly.

Teresa stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm not supposed to eat in the shops. It's a mall rule."

"Teresa, Gally, Thomas, I think we also need to have a discussion about "mall etiquette"," Newt said. "The two of you are behaving worse than ol' Chucky."

"What did I do?!" protested Gally. "All I suggested was that she eat chocolate!"

"And what did I do?" Teresa added.

"And me!" Thomas protested.

"Well, Gally, you pretty much need to learn mall rules so you don't make klunkheaded suggestions. Teresa, you can't go around telling people that there's no way to know what Alby's name is, or any of ours, for the matter. And Tommy, I heard people discussing that there had been a boy who jumped on another one on the second floor and were making a scene. You and Gally here are honestly two of the few here who would get into such a thing." Newt rolled his eyes.

All three opened their mouths to protest, but then Minho beat them to it.

"Right there!" Minho shouted, pointing over Thomas's shoulder. "There's Alby!"

Newt peered over Thomas's shoulder, as well. "Bloody..." he gasped. "ALBY!" he started chasing after him.

Minho followed him, and once Teresa saw, she brushed past Thomas and joined the chase.

Thomas whirled around and gasped in surprise. "Alby!"

It was definitely Alby, but he did not look like the Alby who had fled from Teresa's car and into the mall.

"Honestly, that shank is a _lunatic_!" Gally shook his head.

"Says _you_." Thomas started running after the group and Alby.


	3. On-Pointness and Swag

**Reply to Reviews:**

**Newtie: It really is!**

**AsgardianGrizzly: That is just too true...**

**Guest: Oh, well, if you read When StarClan Gets Bored, it doesn't get much weirder than that... haha. And Gally's my favorite character, so that's partly the reason he's tagging along in this shopping trip... and um (spoiler, I guess) Gally's... uh, not dead. At least not in the books, but I don't think he died in the movie, either. If he did die in the movie, well, this is based more off the book, anyways.**

**Sydney: Excellent! That's the point!**

**Prisoner24601: ...Maybe that makes sense to some degree?**

**Liadan Alice: Oh my Newt, that's ADORABLE! And I love Thomas and Gally when they bicker. I don't know why, but I enjoy it.**

**timeladyelf: Newt does indeed have a charming accent. I'd have to put up arguments that he's the _best _though, but he is pretty great. **

**Guest: And I know who you are. Stop reviewing when you're sitting right next to me. XD**

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><p>"Alby! What happened to you?!" Newt reached and grabbed Alby's shoulders, pulling him back.<p>

Alby was wearing saggy gray jeans, black and red skate shoes, a black Miami Heat hat, and a tight-fitting black t-shirt. He was eating a pretzel. "...I bought clothes," Alby said slowly. "Was that not what we were coming here to do?"

"What are you _wearing_?" Minho asked, astonished. "_Honestly_."

"I saw some guys walking around the mall, decided I liked their style, and I copied them." Alby shrugged. "Pretty swag, huh?"

"_Swag_?" Newt asked, incredulous. "What does "swag" even bloody mean?"

"Dunno. But I heard the guys saying it, so I'm trying it out." Alby said.

"Well, Alby's all figured out..." Teresa said sarcastically. "Let's go shopping for you guys now!" she studied Alby. "And Alby, in case you didn't get the sarcasm, you need help. Big time. The guys you're copying are obviously guilty of committing fashion crimes." she hooked her arm through Alby's.

Alby tugged away. "If your fashion sense is anything like your driving, this will just go down in flames. I'm going to say "no" while I still can."

"Remember what happened to Jeff...!" Teresa warned.

"Fine." Alby sighed. "But if if this ends up badly, I reserve the right to say "I told you so"."

"Whatever. Because it's not going to." Teresa linked her arm with Alby's again, as well as Thomas's, and began tugging them up the escalator, and the other three boys followed.

"Okay, boys, here's the deal," Teresa said at the top of the escalator. "I have to save Alby from his fashion crimes, so he's top priority. Can I trust you boys to go off by yourselves and make reasonable fashion choices?"

"...Probably not." Gally scoffed.

"I'm slightly worried about doing this- but I need at least an hour to deal with Alby, so you guys are on your own. Try on clothes, try to make them decent, but make sure you have a receipt, because if you don't, well, I'll be trashing the clothing and you'll have lost however much money you spent on the clothes. Then making you buy more clothes."

"Why are you so bossy?" complained Gally.

"Because fashion is a serious thing," Teresa said seriously. "You can either look classy or like a total idiot. I don't want to be associated with fashion idiots."

"How nice." Minho said dryly.

"Where do you boys plan on going first? I can at least help with that..." Teresa offered. "Knowing where to go is the first step, and I can help with that, even if I can't be there while you shop."

"You're just too kind." Minho rolled his eyes.

"Well, where?"

"Who bloody knows?" Newt sighed. "There's a billion and a half shops here."

"Go to Hollister." Teresa said instantly.

"How'd you pull that out?" Thomas asked. "Did you research shops before we came here?"

"Not really. But I saw a hot-looking dude wearing a shirt that said "Hollister" on it, and I also saw pictures of models in the store when I was looking for Alby. They also looked like they had nice clothes, so... go there." Teresa said.

"...I can't say I know how to respond to that." Thomas replied.

"Bro. Your girl just said there's a hot-looking dude. GO BEAT 'IM UP!" Minho cheered.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Thomas shouted at him.

Teresa grinned sweetly, and led Alby away. "Good luck. We'll meet back here in an hour and a half."

"Well, I suppose we oughta go to this bloody "Hollister" place- Teresa'll kill us if we don't." Newt said, seeming annoyed.

"I don't trust her fashion advice." Gally put in. "I don't trust her."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we got that. You don't like or trust anyone." Minho snapped. "All we have to buy is one thing, at least. She can return it if she doesn't like it."

"Fine." Gally huffed.

The four of them went to a directory, found Hollister, and walked over. It had a cabana-style awning in front, a picture of a male and a female model in swimsuits inside. It was a dimly lit store, with a well-noticed smell of cologne wafting from it.

"What a smell." Gally sighed.

"Speaking of smells, Tommy, why does it seem like there's an assortment of those coming from you?" Newt asked.

"Bath and Body Works." Thomas muttered quickly and evasively.

"His new girlfriend offered him samples and loverboy here couldn't say no," Gally laughed maliciously.

"Shut up, Gally." Thomas muttered.

"Thomas is a _playa_!" Minho shouted, laughing.

"No, I'm not!" Thomas protested, turning red. "She's _not_ my girlfriend. She was very pleasant though, and I thought it would be rude to reject her offer."

"Liar, liar..." Gally taunted.

Thomas made a "harrumph" sound, and spun around, his back on the three. At that moment, the Bath and Body Works girl, who apparently was now on a break, walked by, grinning sweetly at Thomas and waving at him.

Thomas's eyes widened and he turned redder. He hastily waved back and spun around to look at the boys again.

"What a catch!" Minho nudged him.

"She got the wrong idea then, because she's not my girlfriend." Thomas grumbled.

"Right. That's Teresa. This is just one of the chicks you'll flirt with for fun." Minho teased him.

"She's not my girlfriend either- I've told you that."

"Then why'd she force me out of shotgun when you came?" Newt asked. "Not that I was complaining, of course, but why?"

"She trusts me the most?" Thomas suggested. "I mean, she came straight to me when she woke up in the Glade. We can, uh, talk in our heads, you know, Newt..." Thomas said.

"All the more reason to think you're lovers. You guys have a special connection with that weird talking-in-your-heads voodoo." Minho insisted.

"The Creators probably did it." Thomas insisted. "We are not dating!"

"Sure you're not." Newt sighed. "Let's go shopping- Teresa will have us shucked if we don't." he marched into the store and the other three followed.

"Here's the plan, men," Minho said. "Grab whatever seems good to you and we meet by the changing rooms in twenty."

"Wanna give us another one of your inspiring pep talks again?" Newt asked. Thomas couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or sarcastic.

"No." Minho marched off.

Newt watched his friend start to shop, seemingly taken aback by the answer. "Well, then..."

"Good luck," Thomas muttered to Newt, and wandered off to the back of the store, deciding to work his way back to front.

Thomas surveyed the clothes, not knowing what he should select.

"Need any help?" someone asked him from behind.

Thomas turned around to see a pretty blond girl with nicely tanned skin smiling flirtatiously, at him.

"Um... maybe?" he said.

"It's a yes or no question, hon." she responded. "I can't help you with a maybe." she giggled.

"S-sure?"

"Shuck, Thomas, _another_ one?" Minho already had a pile of clothes in his arms as he walked by. "Excuse my friend. He likes girls, but he can't talk to them. They usually have to make the first move, which includes talking in his head and spraying perfume all over him." he snorted, finding himself to be very funny.

The girl looked at Minho, confused. "What?"

"He's socially awkward." Minho offered.

Thomas facepalmed. "Shut up, Minho."

"Oh, you had this one, shank?" Minho grinned.

"She was just offering to help me pick out clothes." Thomas muttered. "Could you go away now?"

"Eh, fine..." Minho walked off.

"Anyways, can I help you?" the girl asked.

"I guess."

"What are you looking for?"

"Anything. My friend is forcing me to shop. Apparently, I need a wardrobe upgrade or something."

"Can I be honest?" the girl asked.

"Sure?"

"You do. Your clothes look slightly filthy, unless that's a style you're going for."

Thomas couldn't believe the girl could tell in this light. "Oh. No, I haven't meant for that."

"Why are you wearing the clothes, then?"

Thomas didn't know how to respond- he wasn't sure the girl would respond in a positive manner if he told her he didn't actually have any other clothes. "Uh... none of my clothes are clean." Which was true. The clothes he were wearing weren't clean.

"Washing machine broke down? Sucks." the girl made a face.

"Yeah, sure... anyways, could you please help me?"

"Oh, right!" the girl giggled. "Let's get started. What size are you?"

"I... I don't know." Thomas admitted.

"How do you not know what size you are?" the girl asked.

"I dunno." Thomas shrugged earnestly.

"You look like a medium, so let's try that." the girl pulled a shirt off a rack. "How about this shirt?" it was a sky blue polo with a silver Hollister bird on the left side of the chest. "Blue looks good on you, even if it is dirty."

"O-okay."

"What size pants are you?" the girl asked.

"I don't know that either. I pretty much know that my shoe size is an eleven."

"Big feet." she said, astonished. "Alright. Let's see..."

The girl was in excellent shopper. In the ten minutes that had not been wasted talking, she had found Thomas seven different shirts and four different pairs of pants.

"Great, we were all successful." Newt said. "So I guess we try the stuff on and go wander around to other stores."

"Goody." Gally scoffed, disappearing into one of the changing rooms as a worker unlocked the door for him.

The girl who had helped Thomas pick out his clothing stuck around, insisting to see him try on the items.

Thomas pulled on the first shirt that the girl had showed him, as well as a pair of gray sweatpants.

"Oh, um... you shouldn't wear polo shirts with sweatpants." the girl shook her head.

Thomas wasn't bothered by the look, but he figured he shouldn't argue. He wandered back into the changing room and pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Oh, that's _much_ better," the girl nodded.

At that moment, Minho came out in a plain navy blue t-shirt and jeans similar to Thomas's. "Honestly, this isn't fun. Teresa shouldn't be making us do this." he complained.

The girl helping Thomas looked at Minho. "That is _literally on point_."

"What does that mean?" Minho asked defensively.

"It means you look good." the girl giggled. "You've never heard that phrase before?"

"Thank you, and no, I haven't." Minho said, his emotions changing from the grumpiness of trying on the clothes to now pride of his "on-pointness". He marched back into the changing room.

Thomas tried on his clothes, and the girl kept instructing him on what to wear with what, and once they all purchased the clothing, they went to the mens' room to go change.

They went to five other stores, but he did not have a helper like the Hollister girl. He had Minho, who suddenly seemed to know fashion rights from fashion wrongs, but he would not tell Thomas how to improve the outfit. It was a "yes" or a "no" and Minho would continue his own shopping without going into detail about what was good or bad about the outfit.

Thomas tried so hard to remember the fashion instructions the girl was giving him. He really did. But he once again came out of the stall wearing sweatpants and a polo shirt.

"No." Minho said, wearing the clothing that the girl had told him was "on point". "You were told no sweatpants and polos."

"Whoops." Thomas said simply, as Gally came out wearing sweatpants and a polo, too.

"No. Go change. Both of you."

"_I don't shucking care_." Gally insisted angrily.

"I'm so ashamed." Minho sighed. "I'm not associating myself with you if you step out of this bathroom dressed like that."

"In that case, see ya." Gally made a move for the exit.

"You're shucked, dude." Minho said. "Remember what Teresa said. I know I shouldn't care about you, but we were Gladers. And Teresa has shown, uh, violent capabilities."

"I don't care. I bought appropriate stuff. Or something like that. She didn't say we had to display that."

"You ought to. That was kind of implied."

"Goodbye." Gally left.

Thomas disappeared back into the stall and put on a hoodie with the sweatpants.

"I suppose..." Minho sighed. "Newt, are you ever coming out of the stall or not?"

"Coming..." Newt came out, dressed in a sweater and khakis.

"At least someone else has decent style. Come on, let's go meet Teresa." Minho picked up the rest of his shopping bags and marched from the bathroom, Newt and Thomas following.

They met up with Alby, Teresa, and Gally at the top of the escalator, as they said they would. Teresa was yelling at Gally, as expected, because of the fact Gally was in a polo and sweatpants, and Alby stood next to them, Teresa's hand gripped tightly around his wrist in case he was to make a break for it again, looking very uncomfortable and very unhappy.

"Bloody hell, Teresa!" Newt yelled at her. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Oh, Newt! You look so nice! You do, too, Minho!" Teresa said cheerfully. "Thomas, a little more effort could have been put in, but I'm glad you're not wearing something dressy and something much more casual and you just went to one end, even if it's not a very good looking end, but it's better than Gally..." she glared at the Builder, who rolled his eyes.

"I stopped him from doing the same thing as Gally," Minho said proudly. "I tried to stop Gally, but he wouldn't listen, and I couldn't fight him in a public place after Newt's discussion on etiquette and whatever."

"Forget that." Newt crossed his arms. "Teresa, what did you do to Alby?"

"He went from very low to very high on the fashion scale." Teresa said, grinning.

Alby was in a tuxedo. The boys stared, mouths agape, eyes wide.

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Alby shouted at Teresa, who just rolled her eyes.

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><p><strong>Poor Alby... XD<strong>

**Let's face it, Minho _is_ on point. All the boys are, for the matter.**


	4. Victoria Has a Secret

**Reply to Reviews:**

**BookwormQueen1234: Yay me! I should get an award for that... heehee. The Scorch Trials and the Death Cure pretty much don't happen because of this AU, but I am going to have references (you'll see what I mean in this chapter).**

**QuinnDeRavensborough: I wrote this because I couldn't find much stuff like this on this fandom- so I guess we were looking for the same thing, haha. And that's a good idea- I wasn't sure if I was going to have Scorch Trials and Death Cure characters, but I thnk I will now. And I actually cried at Chuck's death. Not Rue's for some reason- I found Chuck's sadder than Rue's as well. Oh, wow, I just realized their deaths are really similar to each other... they died in similar ways under similar circumstances by similar people, that's kinda creepy.**

**timeladyelf: Newt's just cool like that XD And you're welcome- I tend to do that with people. You're not the first to tell me that. It's a gift. ;)**

**Prisoner24061: Thank you!**

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><p>"What did you <em>do<em> to him?!" Newt yelled at Teresa. "Suits are for formal occasions- not mall trips!"

"He needs to learn that low-fashion crimes have high-fashion punishments." Teresa defended herself calmly- and seemingly proudly.

"That might be okay in a _formal_ occasion, but we're in a _public_ place that is not for a formal occasion." Newt frowned. "So this looks out-of-place, and that's almost like a fashion crime."

"About two hours ago you were still trying to figure out "fashion" even meant, and you have the _nerve_ to critique _my_ fashion choices?!" Teresa gasped, scandalized.

"I know enough about fashion to know that Alby is not dressed appropriately and people will be thinking that he is a weirdo to be wearing a suit in public."

Teresa made an "I'm-thinking" face, and looked from Newt to Alby to Newt to Alby again. "You do have a point." Teresa sighed to Newt. "It is almost like a fashion crime to be abnormally dressed."

"Newt, you are my savior." Alby sighed in relief.

"But that's usually if you have been specifically told otherwise- you can wear a suit to the mall if you want to." Teresa smirked.

Alby looked like he was going to start bawling his eyes out.

"Is it possible to charge a person with "abuse through fashion"?" asked Minho. "Because I'm pretty sure that's what Alby's experiencing."

"That's supid. There's no such thing." Teresa scoffed.

"Well, the government oughta make an exception for this case. Or create a new rule in honor of this. Or something like that."

Teresa rolled her eyes. "Just shut up, okay, Minho? I was proud of you for your fashion choices- don't ruin it."

Minho shook his head but stopped arguing. Apparently, receiving praise for his fashion choices was preferred over Alby getting out of the suit at the moment.

Thomas rolled his eyes at Minho.

"Minho, I thought we were friends! You were the only one in the Glade who was allowed to talk crap to me!" Alby said angrily. "And if we were still in the Glade, I would have your shuck butt _Banished_! You ought to help your friend! Namely me!"

"But fashion's important to me..." whined Minho.

"If I recall correctly, you were willing to wear the same underwear for the rest of your life than go to the mall.

"That's because I despised Teresa's driving. But now that we're here, I'm making the most of it."

"Like Teresa said to Newt, you hardly knew what fashion was two hours ago!" Alby protested.

"Guys, please. You guys have now finished your shopping, and Alby's _not_ changing out of the suit. So now it's time for me!" Teresa said. "You boys get to go shopping with me!"

"I refuse." Gally said immediately.

"Where do you shop?" Thomas asked.

"Get me out of this suit!" Alby complained.

"Oh, goody," Minho said sarcastically, waving his hands around. "Let's go _bra shopping_!"

"Oh, you nailed that, Minho!" Teresa chirped. "That's first!"

"He was bloody _kidding_, Teresa." Newt sighed.

"Yeah, well, I'm not. So let's go." Teresa's right hand remained on Alby's wrist and she hook her left arm through Gally's, and grabbed Minho's hand.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding." Gally groaned, trying to tug away from Teresa. "How do you have such a strong grip?"

"Being in a place full of boys for a week changes you."

"Not that quickly." Gally grumbled.

Teresa dragged them over to a store labeled "Victoria's Secret". Then she said to the boys who were on her arms, "If you try to run, we'll have a problem. Clear?"

Alby nodded miserably.

Minho sighed. "Fine."

Gally shook his head. "I make no promises."

"Gally..." Teresa glared warningly at him.

"I make no promises." Gally shrugged.

"_Gally_...!" Teresa smacked his arm.

"Fine, fine!" Gally threw his free hand up in the air.

Teresa let him go and they walked into the store.

"...Um, wow." Thomas said.

"Hot." Minho smirked.

"And you say _I'm_ a "playa"." Thomas smacked his arm.

It was a dimly lit store with shimmering black tiles. There were mannequins modeling some of the lingerie, shelves and drawers, pictures of models, and a large television behind the checkout, which was broadcasting something called the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show".

"I don't like this," Newt shook his head. "Not one bit."

"Too bad for you. You're stuck here till I'm done." Teresa laughed.

"I don't like you." Gally glared at her.

"That's okay. You're not so great, either." Teresa walked off.

Gally rolled his eyes. "What are we supposed to do?"

Newt shrugged. "Who bloody knows? What do guys even do at a place like this?"

"No idea." Thomas agreed.

Alby shook his head.

"Minho? Any ideas?" Newt asked his friend.

Minho was not looking at them. He was looking at the TV behind the checkout.

Gally smacked the back of his head. "MINHO! Snap out of it!"

"Wha- what was the question?" Minho looked at him.

"It doesn't concern you anymore. You've got the answer figured out for yourself."

"What was the question?"

"What to do in this place."

"Oh."

"Again, you're calling _me_ a "playa". Honestly, Minho..." Thomas shook his head.

"You are. You went to the mall with your girlfriend and you've already flirted with two mall assistants who now seem to think you're their boyfriend."

"Yet you were just caught staring at a half-naked model."

"That's called being a teenage boy. Dating three girls at the same time is a playa."

"None of them are my girlfriend!" Thomas insisted.

So the bickering ensued, and continued until a little boy, not much older than seven or eight ran up to them.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked.

"Um... sure." Thomas said to the boy.

"Do you know what Victoria's secret is?" the boy asked.

"No, I do not. What is it?" Thomas decided to humor the little boy.

"Victoria's a dude!" the boy giggled hysterically.

Thomas laughed, too. "Where'd that come from?"

The boy opened his mouth to respond, and then a girl who was probably about the boys' age ran up and grabbed the little boy's hand. "Alex!" she scolded him. "You know what Mom and Dad have told you about strangers!"

"But they don't seem strange. They seem normal enough." the boy said.

"You know very well that strangers are people you don't know!" the girl told him, seeming annoyed. And then to the boys, "Sorry. Little siblings are a pain. My mom made me watch him while she ran some errands. I'm sure you know how it goes."

Thomas did not know how that went. And based on the looks on his friends' and Gally's faces, he assumed they didn't, either.

"...Sure." Thomas said.

"Hey, you look familiar!" the girl suddenly exclaimed. "And so do you!" she pointed at Minho.

Thomas's eyes widened. How could she know him? Thomas and Minho weren't from this world. At least, they didn't think they were. Was there some way they were from this world? Was she from their past? Was she-

"I think we live in the same apartment building!" the girl said. "I'm Brenda. I live in apartment three-C with my parents and my brother. I think you guys are in apartment three-F."

_Oh_. Thomas thought.

"Yeah, we are." Minho said. "I'm Minho and this is Thomas. That's Newt, the horribly dressed fashion idiot is Gally, and the tuxedo dude is Alby."

"Why are you in a tuxedo?" Brenda asked Alby.

"Because the person who dressed me is shucking crazy." Alby replied.

"Shucking?" Brenda tilted her head to the side. "I... don't think "shucking" is used in that sense. At least, I've never heard it that way. Is that a way it's used?"

"Just a word we like to use. We have our own weird slang." Newt stepped in quickly, and Thomas was thankful for his friend's quick thinking.

"Oh, you're British!" Brenda said. "I like your accent."

"Thank you." Newt smiled at her.

"If you don't mind my asking, why is your name "Newt"? I've never heard someone being named "Newt". Is it short for something?"

"I suppose you could say I'm named after Isaac Newton." Newt said simply, his expression making it clear- at least to Thomas- that he hoped Brenda didn't ask further questions.

"Oh, so are your parents interested in science?" Brenda asked.

Thomas looked from Brenda to Newt, who'd turned red. He knew Brenda was only trying to make conversation, but he had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

"Um, I suppose you could say the people who raised me are scientists themselves." Newt said, seeming annoyed. "Can we be done here?"

"Sure. Sorry." Brenda seemed confused. "Gally? Is that short for something?"

"If you think I'm getting into that with you, you're mistaken." Gally replied rudely.

"I don't want to participate, either." Alby put in.

"Um, Minho? I know your name's Asian but what does it mean, do you know?"

"Just because my name is Minho means it's Asian?" Minho asked. "Well, that's racist."

"I'm sorry. You guys just have slightly strange names- I haven't heard them before, I'm just curious to know where they come from. Sue me. So, it's not Asian?"

"Nah, I'm kidding, it probably is," Minho laughed. "I think I'm named after the guy who invented the cure for cancer."

Brenda raised her eyebrows and looked at Minho with wide eyes, blinking several times. "There isn't a cure for cancer."

"Oh." Minho seemed to forget where they were, which Thomas now concluded was probably not an alternate universe, but the past. "Well, then, I guess the guy who finds a cure for cancer is gonna be named after me, because I'm just that great."

Brenda laughed. "Funny."

Thomas didn't know if Minho was trying to be funny or not, but he was glad that's how Brenda saw it. He wasn't willing to go into details and have his apartment neighbor think he was crazy.

"Wanna know how I was named?" Alex, who Thomas had almost forgotten was there, asked eagerly.

"Sure." Newt said kindly to the little boy.

"My parents like the name Alex." he said proudly.

Newt didn't seem to know how to respond, so he just nodded.

"That's a great story, kid." Minho said.

"Thank you." Alex seemed very satisfied with that comment.

At that moment, a woman came up to Brenda. "Brenda!" the woman seemed shocked. "You took your brother with you to go here?"

"I had to get it done." Brenda waved a Victoria's Secret bag around. "I told you that, Mom."

"You should've waited- I wasn't going to be very long." Brenda's mother didn't seem too happy that Brenda and Alex were in the store. She then looked at the boys. "Oh, hello."

"Hi." Thomas said.

"Mom, that's Thomas and that's Minho. They're our neighbors." Brenda said. "And those are their friends, Newt, Alby, and Gally."

"I'm not their friend." Gally said quickly.

Alby whacked him.

"I'm not and you know it, shank." Gally shoved him back.

"Not in the bloody store!" Newt hissed at them.

"Hello, neighbor!" Minho stuck his hand out to Brenda's mother, who took it and shook it quickly.

"Hello, boys. Welcome to the building." she smiled at them. "Brenda, Alex, time to go."

Brenda sighed.

"Okay. Bye guys!" Alex waved eagerly at them.

"Bye, Alex." Thomas said.

Brenda, Alex, and their mother walked out of the store, and the five boys were left with nothing to do.

"What now?" Minho asked.

"Go back to staring at the model on the wall." Gally told him.

Minho frowned. "What if I don't want to?"

"You do." Gally rolled his eyes. "That much is obvious."

"Or maybe that's just you, shuck-face." Minho shoved him.

"We're getting into this, are we?" Gally snapped, stomping up close to Minho.

"_Stop fighting in the bloody store_!" Newt burst in between the two. "What did I say about mall etiquette?"

"Fighting never came up." Gally said.

"Yeah, Newt." Minho agreed.

"Now you guys get along."

"It's weird like that." Minho said cheerfully.

A worker, a man in a dark blue dress shirt and nice pants came up to them. "Can I help you boys?"

"Just waiting for our friend. She forced us to stay in here." Minho said.

"I would appreciate it if you controlled your voice levels and stopped fighting." the worker said. "There's no problem with you lingering around, but you can't be behaving inappropriately."

"You think that's fighting?" Gally scoffed. "I can tell you've never visited the real world, shank."

The man frowned. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"My pleasure." Gally turned heel and stomped out of the store.

"Somebody needs to go with him before he runs off, because if we don't, we're going to be stuck here forever looking for him." Newt said quickly.

"I got this!" Minho ran after Gally, and the boys still in the store watched as Minho jumped on Gally's back and they both crashed to the ground. A couple stumbled around them to avoid tripping over them.

They both stood up and Gally shoved Minho away and stomped off. Minho chased after him.

Thomas couldn't help it as he watched his friend and his enemy disappear from view. He burst out laughing. Alby started chuckling and it turned into full-out laughter, as well. Newt was trying to hold in his laughter, glaring at the boys, obviously trying to hint them to control themselves, but he then made a choked laughing sound and then he wound up in a coughing fit.

Teresa came up to them, a bag in her hands. "What is _wrong_ with you guys?" she turned to the worker. "I'm sorry, sir. My friends don't know how to behave themselves. We're going to be leaving now." she grabbed Alby's and Thomas's wrists and tugged them from the store, Newt following.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you guys?" Teresa demanded angrily. "That was the store's manager!"

"Whoops." Thomas coughed.

"How'd you know?" Alby asked.

"Gee, maybe it was because he was wearing nicer clothing than most of the other workers and his name tag said "_manager_"!" Teresa shouted angrily.

"Oh well." Alby shrugged.

"You might not care about getting kicked out of the stores, but I do. So _try_ to behave yourselves in my stores, at least, okay?" Teresa glared at them.

Thomas shrugged. "I actually think it's a decent payback for putting us in that death trap of a car of yours. Besides, you didn't get kicked out and the managers was only slightly annoyed with us."

"God, Thomas, I thought we were good friends!" Teresa huffed. "Now you're just annoying." she paused. "Hold up. Speaking of friends and annoyances, where are Minho and Gally?"

"Gally actually _did_ get kicked out of the store for threatening the manager and calling him a "shank"." Alby laughed.

"And Minho went after him to make sure we didn't have another bloody "Alby Incident", so to speak." Newt rolled his eyes.

"I'm an _incident_ now?" Alby protested.

Newt sighed.

"Well, where are the idiots now?" Teresa asked impatiently.

"Right there." Alby pointed in the direction of a sprinting Gally, Minho right on his heels. Just as Gally raced past them, Minho took a big leap and crashed down on Gally, and the two fell to the ground.

"Idiots!" Teresa yelled at them as people gave them strange looks. "Honestly, if there was such a thing as mall etiquette classes, I would drag all of you to them right now!"

"You're such a control freak." Gally stood up, dusted himself off, and tried to leave again, but then Minho shot up, jumped on him again, and both boys crashed to the floor once more.

"Stop it." Newt pulled them off the ground.

"Newt, you're not our babysitter." Minho complained. "I was actually having fun with that!"

"Shank, I thought Runners burned off pretty much everything they ate in the Maze. However, either I was totally wrong or you're doing it all wrong. How did you ever get elected to the shucking Keeper position?" Gally shook his head. "Because you're heavy!"

"I have a lot of muscle," Minho flexed his arms proudly. "And muscle weighs more than fat!"

"Congratulations, Gally," Newt said sarcastically. "You managed to fit five words that people have never heard of or heard in the sense you said them. So now you are going to be thought of as either a bloody genius because people think you know things they don't, or, the more likely options, you're _completely shucking crazy_, because you're rambling nonsense!"

"You're right, Newt is a bit of a babysitter." Gally told Minho, who nodded.

"I'm hearing it, too." agreed Alby.

"And Newt, you said "shucking", too." Teresa pointed out.

Newt frowned. "Once. We need to start using proper words or the people around us are going to think we're complete oddballs."

"But I like Glader words." Thomas protested.

"You were in there for about two weeks," Newt rolled his eyes. "And you were bloody unconscious for a chunk of that."

"However, I grew to love those shucking words." Thomas said endearingly.

Newt sighed, knowing the battle was lost. "What next, Teresa?"

"You know how the security lady asked us if Alby had a phone to call him on?" Teresa asked.

"Yeah, I was there..." Newt replied.

"Well, it's time to get ourselves some of those!" Teresa said excitedly. "Among other electronics."

"Why do we need other electronics?" asked Thomas.

"TEE-VEE!" screamed Minho excitedly, causing shoppers to stare at the teenage boy celebrating the television.

Newt rolled his eyes. "Slim it- this is what I'm talking about!"

"What a babysitter." Minho taunted.

"Nope, I'm not. Just saying something that needed to be said."

"Babysitter!"

"No."

"_Babysitter_...!"

"No!"

"Let's go, boys!" Teresa dragged them away to their next destination, Minho and Newt arguing along the way. Gally tried to escape again, but this time, Alby took the liberty of jumping on him, and they fell down again. Teresa tugged them up and they kept walking.

"Stop bloody _jumping_ on each other!" Newt looked over at them.

"Babysitter!"

"SLIM IT, MINHO!"

Shoppers looked at Newt strangely.

Minho laughed like a little child. "Ha ha."

Newt glared at him.

Minho laughed again.

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><p><strong>I was on Tumblr and I found posts calling Thomas Brodie-Sangster a babysitter, and I thought about it a little, and Newt kind of is. Whether he wants to be in charge or not, he's pretty good with crowd control XD <strong>**And Minho saying that he's named after the guy who cured cancer is from an interview with Ki Hong Lee saying that he made up a backstory for Minho because James Dashner never said anything about who Minho was named after in the books. I also felt the need to use that, because, well, this is humor, and it works XD**


	5. Thomas's Indecisiveness

**Wow... my previous update was over a month ago. That's embarassing. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all that...**

**Reply to Reviews:**

**QuinnDeRavensborough: No, no! That's most certainly not the intent! I was just trying to be funny! And that's how I know some of the boys around that age would behave in Victoria's Secret... I love Minho (but he is admittedly a little aggressive in canon form... I don't think what he was doing was too bad, though...)! I'm not trying to be mean! And to be honest, I prefer Teresa to Brenda, but I'm trying to write impartially right now. Haha...**

**Guest: Does updating around Will Poulter's birthday count?**

**Queen Rebelle: I see you're following me around... XD and thank you!**

**Aurora Marie Williams: Gally's eyebrows are better than Thomas's, hands down (at least for me...). But Thomas does have a great face XD And I don't like Brenda that much either, but I figure I might as well be impartial. XD**

**DemigodPrefect: I think James Dashner said that since TMR isn't in the near future, he wanted a guy who hadn't been born yet. And true, there's really no way you can't love Newt. Jorge'll come at some point, I have plans. But he's not here yet, unfortunately ;)**

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><p>Teresa dragged them to the Apple store.<p>

Minho seemed very disappointed. "It doesn't look like they sell TVs here."

"We'll get to that later." Teresa patted his arm.

"But I've been asking for a TV since I was in the Glade. It's been two years since I've watched TV- I want TV!" Minho complained.

"Trust me, these things work like they are TVs."

"How do you know so much about all this stuff?"

"I've done research."

"Where?" Minho asked, astonished. "When have you had time to research?"

Teresa smirked at him. "I have my ways."

"I don't like the sound of that." Minho seemed taken aback by that comment. "Just saying, I'm saying I don't know you if the police call me and say that you're in jail and you need me to bail you out."

"I didn't do anything illegal, honestly. What do you think I am?"

"...A weird person who does dangerous antics and endangers her's and her friends' lives and might get herself arrested."

"That's rude."

"Your face is rude! Ooh, burn!" Alby joined in, laughing.

Teresa did not seem impressed. "Alby, that's not a personality to be having in that suit."

"Just because I've got this thing on doesn't mean I have to behave like the suit affects my personality. Rebelling against the man." Alby said proudly.

"You're really struggling with not being in charge anymore, aren't you?" Teresa raised her eyebrows.

"You have no idea." Alby shook his head.

"Welcome to Apple. Can I help you?" a guy with short brown hair dressed in a blue t-shirt and khakis walked up to them.

"Phones." Teresa said. "Which iPhones are still being sold here?"

"Because we have any idea what that bloody means." Newt whispered to Thomas, who laughed.

"We sell here the iPhone Five-C, iPhone Five-S, iPhone Six, and iPhone 6-Plus. Do you have any idea which one you're interested in?"

"Which is the best?" Teresa asked.

"The iPhone Six and Six-Plus are the best- they're the newest models. But I suppose it depends what your price range is and what you're looking for in a phone. What would that be?"

"I can pretty much afford whatever," Teresa said proudly.

"What's the difference between the iPhone Six and the iPhone Six-Plus?" asked Newt.

"The iPhone Six-Plus is larger than the iPhone Six and costs some more."

Newt nodded. "Okay."

"Do you want some time to check out the phones?" the guy asked, motioning to the displays of the phones and other assorted devices.

"Sure... Dan." Teresa said, reading the name on the guys name tag.

Dan nodded. "You can call me over when you're ready." he walked off to an older woman looking at a computer.

Thomas went over to the iPhone 5S and turned it on. The phone came to life, its screen brightening instantly. He looked over at the 5C, 6, and 6+. _This is so cool!_ he thought excitedly. The technology that had been in WICKED's laboratory had been much more advanced than this- he could already tell, but he was excited that he could have all this technology at his fingertips.

Let's just say that by the time Thomas was done looking, he'd spent about ten minutes on each type of phone there was.

"What type of phone are you thinking of?" Newt asked the others as they regrouped at the front of the store.

"The Six!" Teresa chirped eagerly.

"Five-S or Six," Minho nodded. "The other Six is _huge_!"

"Like your head, shuck-face." Gally snorted.

"Don't hate me 'cuz you ain't me." Minho said sassily. "Or because I was jumping on you earlier."

"What the...?" Newt shook his head. "Minho, bloody...!"

"I just thought of that. I think it's a pretty great comeback." Minho nodded seriously.

"Uh, keep telling yourself that." Newt sighed. "Alby?"

"Six-Plus! The biggest is the best!" Alby cheered.

"Well, if we're speaking in Alby terms, apparently, Gally thinks my head is the best." Minho stuck his tongue out at Gally.

Gally frowned. "I'm talking in 'Gally Terms', and that was an insult. I want the Six."

"I hope they sell out before you get to buying one." Minho scoffed.

"Now you're being rude."

"I never particularly liked you, you know that much."

"That's an understatement." Gally rolled his eyes.

"That's true... anyways, whaddya thinking 'bout, Thomas?" Minho asked.

Thomas didn't know. "Any... all of them?"

"Why would you need all the types of phones?" Gally asked.

"That actually seems fun!" Teresa grinned. "Buy a phone and give each Glader a different number to call you on... ooh, idea!"

"Don't even think about it." Newt told her. "That's a bloody stupid idea and you know that very well."

"I was kidding," Teresa pouted. "Whatever, babysitter Newt, what's your phone plan?"

"Five-C or Five-S." Newt said.

"Why Five-C?" Minho asked.

"It's the most straightforward of the phones." Newt shrugged.

"Only you would think of something like that, having a 'straightforward phone'." Minho said teasingly, nudging Newt, making sure he knew he was playing with him.

"I'm not looking for a fancy thing, I'm just looking for something that gets the job done." Newt said.

"iPhones have so many features, why would you just want something that just 'gets the job done'? They're _fun_! They're meant to have other uses!" Teresa exclaimed.

"Are you behaving as a friend or a saleswoman?" asked Newt.

"I did a lot of research. I think I was reciting a review on an iPhone there." Teresa laughed.

Newt didn't seem to know how to reply to that. "That's nice..."

"It is." Teresa nodded. "I'm gonna go get that Dan guy. Thomas, make your phone decision." she walked off.

Thomas stared at the rows of phones. "Uh... how should I chose?"

"Do eenie-meenie-minie-moe," Gally said dryly.

And Thomas did just that.

"I was _kidding_, shuck-face!"

"Oh well." Thomas eliminated the iPhone 5S from the selection pool.

Teresa came back, Dan behind her. She watched Thomas's finger go from pointing to the 5C to the 6 to the 6+. "What is he doing?" she asked Newt.

"Playing a bloody game of '_eenie-meenie-minie-moe_' to figure out what kind of phone he wants." Newt rolled his eyes.

"The 6 is out." Thomas announced.

"Good to know, dude." Minho rolled his eyes.

"And lastly..." Thomas did his final round of eenie-meenie-minie-moe. "The 5-C." he frowned. "But that one doesn't have the fingerprint thingy..."

"Then get the Six-Plus!" Newt sighed.

"But what if that's too big?"

"Are we seriously going on about this?" Alby groaned.

"Fine, fine... I'll get the Six."

"That was so much more difficult than it had to be." Teresa shook her head.

"So the phones'll be it?" asked Dan.

"There's more?" Thomas's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy shop.

"Klunkhead, look around. There's laptops and computers and whole bunch more." Gally gestured broadly to the rest of the store.

Thomas got a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Oh no..." Gally's eyes widened.

So two hours later, they were finally ready to check out, Thomas struggling to figure out which one of everything to get.

"I... am... never... going electronic shopping with you again." Gally snapped at Thomas as they walked out of the Apple store, their arms full of bags of their purchases.

Thomas shrugged. "I was just trying to get my favorite one!"

"You did _eenie-meenie-minie-moe_ each time!" Gally's hand went up and thumped Thomas on the back of the head. "Who _does_ that?"

"Thomas does." Teresa giggled. "It's nearly three-thirty now, guys. So we're done here."

"HALLELUJAH!" Alby screamed.

"Slim it!" Newt groaned at his friend as people turned to look at them strangely again.

Thomas stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait... that means we have to get in a car with Teresa again."

"_No_!" Gally said forcefully.

"You have no other choices." Teresa said. "Hitchhiking's illegal and dangerous, and so's walking on the highway. Stealing is also illegal and sometimes dangerous..."

"There's buses and cabs."

"Buses go to bus stops."

"There's still cabs."

"I dare you to manage to flag down a cab in this busy area."

"Good that." Gally stomped out the mall's entrance and the others went after him. He then looked around, spotted a yellow cab with someone getting out of it, and started running over to it as it was pulling away. It was speeding along before he got to it. "SHUCK!" he shouted.

Thomas laughed.

Gally then spotted another cab and got this strange look in his eyes.

Newt's eyes widened. "Bloody shuck..."

"What?"

"He's gonna run into the bloody street." Newt said.

"How do you-" Thomas watched Gally run into the street. "Oh my."

Newt nodded as the taxi started pulling away and jerked to an abrupt stop to avoid hitting Gally. Gally looked over at the rest of the group, smirked, and ducked into the cab.

"Oh, come on, we don't get to go with him?" Minho complained.

"Since when has the shuck-face ever shared?" Alby rolled his eyes.

"Let's go, boys." Teresa grabbed Alby's and Thomas's hands and hooked her arm through Minho's.

"But I don't wanna..." Minho complained as she dragged them along to the car, a very hesitant Newt trailing behind them.

"Does it look like you're being given a choice?" Teresa laughed.

"Doesn't this count as kidnapping?" Minho tried to tug his arm away.

"No. Technically you have a choice..." Teresa shrugged. "But none of you are stupid enough to stand in traffic to get another ride like Gally just did."

"Actually, the first ride might've scarred me enough that I might end up doing just that." Thomas offered.

"No you won't, Tom. You've got more sense than that."

"Actually, he decided to get himself _Stung_ by choice, so I'm not sure if he does," Alby said.

"He did that for the good of the Glade. There was sense in that." Teresa said, letting them go to unlock the car, and tugged open the driver's side door. "Get in."

Newt, Thomas, Minho, and Alby all tried to cram in together in the middle section of the car. Alby and Minho started arguing over who got the seatbelt.

"We're both gonna die, so we should just share it." Minho said.

"True, true." Alby pulled the seatbelt over so that he and Minho were strapped in together.

Teresa looked back at the boys and rolled her eyes. "One of you ought to sit with me. I'm your _friend_, not your _chauffeur_."

The boys looked at each other.

Thomas said, "Minho!"

The other three boys said, "Thomas!"

"What? Why me?" Thomas protested. "I sat there on the way to!"

"Uh, you're the Greenbean. You have to do the bad stuff to prove your loyalty and get accepted into our group." Alby said.

"What? That's not a thing!"

"New Glade rules for this time in the world."

"Does the Glade even exist right now?"

"Who knows?"

"I'm not sitting up there."

"Three to one, you lose." Minho said.

"I hate you all." Thomas said, hesitantly climbing up into the passenger's seat.

"Hiya, Tom!" Teresa said cheerfully.

Thomas buckled his seatbelt and glared at his friends. "Well, at least I get an airbag."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Teresa laughed, starting the car and backing up. "The guy who owns the driver's ed place I went to owns a car dealership and I bought the car from there. Who knows what this car is equipped with?"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm kidding, it has airbags. At least, I think it does."

"WHAT?! YOU HAVEN'T _CHECKED_?!" screamed Thomas, clinging desperately onto his seatbelt.

"This is gonna be a long ride," Minho whispered to Alby.

"You're gonna be screaming, too!" Thomas yelled at him.

"True enough..."


	6. Frypan's Heaven

**THE SCORCH TRIALS FINISHED FILMING! Gah, I'm gonna lose my mind, I don't think I can wait until September for the movie! Oh, and it was Will Poulter's birthday last Wednesday, so that's even more stuff to get excited about... also, I've pretty much had nothing to do in the past two weeks (I've basically been cooped up in my house for three-fourths of that time whether I wanted to be inside or not), so I've had plenty of time to freak out about everything, which I'm not sure is a good thing. Goodness, excuse my immaturity XD **

**Reply to Reviews:**

**Aurora Marie Williams: Yeah, that would probably be a good idea... I don't do very well with description when it comes to my humorous fics :P Unless the description's intent is to be funny, of course.**

**Queen Rebelle: Oh, don't worry. I have absolutely no interest in going down the WSGB road with this fic.**

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><p>Teresa's driving once again involved reckless turns, abrupt braking, screams of terror, and this time, an unfortunate incident with a squirrel. But all the boys were now going to expect some incident like that during a drive with Teresa, so it didn't come as a surprise to any of them.<p>

When they got back to the apartment building, the four boys practically flung themselves from the car, once again kissing the ground.

Teresa stepped out of the car and rolled her eyes at them, once again. "Seriously? Again, kissing the ground is so unsanitary and just so nasty... I've told you the things that end up on the ground."

"I don't care!" Thomas announced, kissing the ground again.

"Minho, there's gum right where you're kissing the ground."

"Ew!" Minho jumped back. Then he started kissing another patch of ground.

"So nasty!" Teresa shook her head. "Alright, even though we are done at the mall, we need to go to the supermarket."

"I don't want to go to the supermarket! I'm not getting back in the car with you!" Alby stated firmly.

"Yeah, well, you can't eat McDonald's for the rest of your life."

"I don't see what the problem is with that." Alby said defensively.

"Uh, you get wicked fat off McDonald's." Teresa said. "But you don't have to go in the car again. We're here to put our purchases from the mall in our apartments, and then you guys can walk to the supermarket. It's pretty close to here."

"Oh, good." Newt sighed with relief.

"We've gotta get Frypan, though. I think he's gonna go crazy if he doesn't cook something soon," Teresa said. "Chuck told me he's been opening and closing the cupboards and the fridge like he's expecting food to magically appear at any time."

"That's Frypan for ya." Alby rolled his eyes.

"Hey, is Gally back?" asked Thomas.

"Who cares about that shuck-face?" asked Minho.

"His taxi didn't leave much earlier than we left... I would've thought we would have seen the taxi dropping him off." Thomas said.

"Oh well. If he got lost, nobody here's gonna complain." Minho led the way into the apartment building, and he and Thomas dumped their things on the kitchen table of their room. Then they went to Frypan's apartment, which he was sharing with Chuck.

Thomas knocked on the door. Almost immediately, the door was flung wide open, Chuck standing at the doorway. "Thomas!" he said eagerly.

"Hi, Chuck."

"Hi, Chuck." Minho waved from behind Thomas.

"Oh, hi, Minho!" Chuck waved back at him. "Please tell me one of you has food other than takeout. I think Frypan's suffering from cooking withdrawal, if that's a thing."

A loud slam was heard from inside the apartment, and Chuck stepped aside to let them in, revealing Frypan in the kitchen, opening and closing the cupboards, like Teresa had said he had been doing.

"Dude, food's not there. Get over it." Minho said.

"I'm so bored!" Frypan complained. "Taking cooking away from me... it's... it's like taking running away from you!"

"I'm relieved I don't have to run like I did in the Maze anymore." Minho shrugged. "It's a load of pressure off my back."

"Whatever. I enjoyed cooking." Frypan slammed one of the doors shut.

"Well... anyways, Teresa, Alby, and the two of us are going to the supermarket." Thomas said. "Teresa knew that you were going a little crazy... or whatever you wanna call this, but do you wanna come along to get food to cook again?"

"You have no idea how much I'd want that!" Frypan exclaimed excitedly.

Thomas figured he did know how much he'd want that, based on the eager, almost childishly wide grin spreading quickly across the former cook's face.

"Well, then, let's go." Minho gestured out the door, and led the way for the four of them back down to the apartment's lobby. Newt, Alby, and Teresa were there.

"So it doesn't seem like Gally ever came back," Newt said. "I went to his room to check, but nobody answered."

"What are the odds the shuck-face is just ignoring you? He doesn't like talking to anybody." Minho scoffed.

Frypan looked at them, surprised. "What happened?"

"We went to the mall with Gally and he refused to get back into the car with Teresa because she's an insanely horrible driver," Alby explained. "He probably forgot where we lived, so he's lost now with the taxi driver."

"At least, that's what we're assuming." Newt rolled his eyes.

Thomas looked down at Chuck who had an excited grin on his face. Well, I know someone who definitely won't be missing Gally very much if he never makes it back...

"Hold up. Okay, so Gally being missing is a bit of a problem, but I'm gonna stay current. Teresa's a terrible driver?" Frypan raised his eyebrows. "Do I have to get in the car with her?"

"The supermarket is five minutes down the road!" Teresa crossed her arms and frowned at all the boys.

"I didn't say anything!" Thomas protested.

"You and everyone else were freaking out about having to get back into the car with me earlier. How are all of you so stupid that you don't notice something that's basically just across the street?"

"Uh, 'cause it's not?" Minho stuck his tongue out at Teresa.

"Not this again." Newt groaned.

"I was getting into it with Gally earlier, not Teresa." Minho shrugged.

"You and Teresa had your moments." Newt shook his head. "Actually, you had moments with everyone."

"Whatever." Minho strode out of the building.

"Bloody fabulous response." Newt muttered, but followed his friend.

The rest of them ran to catch up with the former Keeper and second-in-command, and Teresa led them all to a medium-sized building. They headed through the automatic sliding doors and almost immediately, there was a reaction from Frypan.

"I think I just died and went to food heaven."

Teresa rolled her eyes. "This is the _supermarket_, Frypan."

"I know. But... but... all the food makes it seem like a food heaven." he grabbed Alby's shoulders and shook him. "Can you imagine how much stuff I could create with all this food?"

"No idea." Alby moved Frypan's hands off of him.

Thomas looked around. Admittedly, there was a lot of food around. Cereal, assorted liquids, fruits and vegetables, well... everything.

While Frypan grabbed a cart and started going to town with the supermarket adventure, Newt read a sign off the wall. "Guys, don't eat anything until you've bought it."

"You're really no fun." Minho took a basket out of a stack by the door.

"I don't want to get thrown out of here, and that's a rule. If we get thrown out, Teresa'll have to drive us to a supermarket further away."

Teresa winked at Newt. "You'll learn to enjoy the adventures."

"That's bloody doubtful." Newt shook his head, and grabbed one of the baskets out of the stack.

Thomas took a cart and he and Chuck started wandering up and down the aisles.

"What are you looking for?" Chuck asked.

Thomas stared down an aisle full of assorted cereal boxes. "I don't really have any idea," he admitted.

"Oh." Chuck pulled a box of cereal down and tossed it into the cart.

Thomas peered over the handlebar and read the label. "Lucky Charms?"

"I dunno. They look interesting, so I'll try it." Chuck took another box and put it into the cart.

By the time they got out of the cereal aisle, Chuck had taken another four boxes off the shelf, and Thomas had taken two.

They heard a shout and then saw Frypan whizzing by on his cart, which was already halfway filled, looking like he was having the time of his life.

"He really likes this place." Chuck watched him narrowly avoid hitting an old woman trying to pick out a can of applesauce.

"Uh-huh." Thomas pushed the cart down the next aisle.

About fifteen minutes later, Frypan came up to him and Chuck, the cart overflowing with food.

"Are you shucking serious?" Thomas stared at the cart.

"Chuck, buddy, d'you wanna push this cart around? I think I'm gonna need another one." Frypan said.

Minho walked up to them, his basket not even half-filled. "Frypan, all that stuff is gonna go stale by the time you get to it. You're not cooking for the whole Glade anymore, bro."

"Don't remind me." Frypan gave a dismissing wave. "But Chucky and I will be eating like kings with the stuff I cook up! Maybe I will invite the whole Glade over for a feast or something. That'd be cool. Reliving the times of the Glade in an apartment building..."

Chuck looked up at Thomas. "I have a feeling I'm gonna get really fat."

Minho frowned. "Dude, you can't fit all of the Gladers in your room. You hardly have room for ten, let alone thirty or something like that."

"Then I'd find a function room or something."

Minho rolled his eyes. "Don't buy all this stuff. I'm telling you, it's not gonna end well."

"You've got a basket. With, like, five things! I'm not sure if you've got a good measurement on how much is too much." Frypan protested.

"Nah, I'm just trusting Thomas to buy a bunch of things." Minho shrugged.

"Oh, come on, shank!" Thomas chuckled. "Half this stuff is Chuck's."

"Based on all the stuff Frypan's buying, I really don't think I need this stuff anymore." Chuck was staring at Frypan's cart.

Minho laughed. "See? We've got this covered." he thumped Thomas on the back and strode off.

Where is he even going? Thomas watched Minho turn down another aisle.

Another fifteen minutes later, the group reconvened at the front of the store, Frypan carrying a basket along with his cart. Newt and Alby had full baskets, Minho had his half-full basket, Teresa had a half-full cart, and Thomas had his cart that he was sharing with Chuck.

"You do _not_ need all that food." Teresa looked at Frypan's potential food purchases.

"See? I'm not alone," Minho told the cook. "I'm not the only one who thinks you need a lot less food than that."

"I'll second that." Newt rolled his eyes. Alby nodded.

"Fine. What do I take out?" Frypan frowned at Minho.

Teresa reached into the cart. "For one thing, I don't think you need three different types of flour..."

"I don't know which type is the best!" protested Frypan.

"Then try one and try another one when we come back." Teresa sighed. "I think I'm gonna have to go get my car to drive all this stuff back..."

"We're not riding in that shucking death trap!" Minho insisted.

"Yeah, I got that. Only the groceries need to come in the car, because you guys have become so whiny I'm going to doubt you all are gonna want to carry all the bags we're going to end up with when we check out," Teresa explained.

"We are _not_ whiny." Alby pouted at Teresa.

"Okay, princess."

"Excuse me?" Alby's eyes widened. "Did you just call me a _princess_?"

"Yes, I did. You and your whiny tuxedoed self."

"You're rude." Alby wrinkled his nose.

"Oh well. You gotta do what you gotta do to deal with you all." Teresa laughed, and nudged him.

Alby was not impressed.

"Oh, don't give me that face." Teresa laughed again.

"I'm going to assume you've never had to struggle with one minute being a leader, then having to learn how to act just like another person." Alby huffed.

"Go to college, become a politician, become president, or become a businessman and work your way up to the top," Teresa said. "There's plenty of leadership positions if you're gonna struggle with no longer being in-command without the Glade around."

"But that'll take so long..." Alby whined.

"And here's the whining." Teresa chuckled.

Alby started ignoring her and went to the checkout. Teresa pushed her cart to Thomas. "Check out for me, please, Tom?"

"Uh, sure." Thomas shrugged.

"That's cute," Minho said teasingly. "The boyfriend's doing the girlfriend's errands... what would the nice chicks from Bath and Body Works and Hollister say?"

"Oh, not this again." Thomas rubbed his temples.

"We're not anything." Teresa grinned.

Minho chuckled. "It seems like Teresa would like the idea of you two together, so why don't you just embrace it, Thomas?"

"Because I didn't get that she would be eager about it..." Thomas looked over at Teresa.

"You can see it in her face. She's interested, shank." Minho nudged Thomas.

Teresa let out a loud snort. "Back in five, boys." and then she walked out of the supermarket.

"She so wants to date you." Minho smirked.

"Oh, shut up." Thomas got into the line and started to get checked out.

A few minutes later, Teresa pulled up in front of the supermarket and the boys put their groceries in the back of her car.

"Nobody wants join me?" Teresa asked one last time.

All the boys shook their heads.

"I feel the love, guys." Teresa shook her head and smiled. She then pulled away, stopping at the edge of the parking lot with a screech. Newt cringed, and Thomas copied him.

"That doesn't sound good." Chuck watched Teresa pull out with the tires squealing.

"Nope." Thomas shook his head.

They reached the building again, and then they met Gally on the sidewalk.

"Where've you been?" Minho asked him.

"Let's... let's not discuss where I've been." Gally said, with a poor attempt at being evasive. Thomas noticed his cheeks turning slightly red, which made him wonder why Gally was becoming embarassed.

Apparently, Minho noticed the color coming to Gally's face, and decided to be a good rival to Gally and exploit the expression against him. "No, no, I want to hear. An embarassed Gally probably has an interesting story to tell, since I don't usually see Gally being all awkward like you're being right now." he smirked, knowing he was going to win this battle against the former Builder.

"Ugh, fine. Uh... I forgot the building's address..." Gally looked down at his feet, his face turning tomato-red at this point. "So the driver drove me all the way across town and then I had to pay him fifty bucks for a worthless ride. I've been walking around town, trying to figure out where the heck I was going. I didn't get lost for too long, though, so that's good, I guess. I got here."

Minho burst out laughing. Thomas, Frypan, and Chuck did, too. Newt and Alby were trying to hold in the laughter, but Alby was letting out snorts and Newt's face was turning really red.

"I knew I was going to regret saying anything. Could you guys _not?" _Gally glared at them all, and when no one was able to contain themselves, he snapped, "Oh, shuck it." he stomped into the apartment building and the door slammed shut behind him.

"He's so stupid." Minho scoffed.

Thomas laughed.

"We've- we've been here a week. I suppose we should give him leeway..." Newt sniffed loudly.

"Teresa told us we should write the address on a piece of paper. The klunkhead probably left it in his pants when he changed earlier at the mall." Minho snickered. "Or he was stupid enough to drop it in the toilet when we were changing."

"Oh, give him a break." Newt shook his head. "We need to be united with this. It's hardly a time to be exploiting him."

"But it's so fun, whether we have to be united or not!" Minho grinned cheekily. "He'll come around. He knows that he's not gonna get through very well if he doesn't have allies."

"Look, I know Gally's not your favorite person but I don't think you need to be using the advantage I'm sure both of you know that you have over-" Newt began, before Teresa called over from the building's parking lot, standing behind her car, the trunk of it open, the groceries awaiting.

"Hey, guys, wanna get your food?"

"Right, sorry!" Thomas, who had gotten distracted in following along in Minho's and Newt's escalating discussion, snapped out of his focus on the two boys. He hurried over to pull out some of the bags in the back of her car, and the others soon followed him.


End file.
